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Digital Classics Distribution

The most recent composition by American minimalist composer John Adams is his take on the "Christmas Oratorio": a large-scale music theatre work entitled El Nino .

How does one actually celebrate Christ's birth in a land where palm trees and race conflicts flourish - in sunny California? Perhaps the way composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars portray it at the beginning of El Nino (La Nativite) , which was first performed nine days before Christmas 2000 at the Parisian Theatre du Chatelet: with a tree and festoons of lights. This symbol projected on the stage as a hazily poetic yet realistically blurred video is telling in more ways than one.

This fourth joint stage work by Adams and Sellars - which unlike the two operas Nixon in China (1987) and The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) turns to a Biblical rather than a contemporary theme - uses musical elements we are already familiar with from these two artists' three "worldly" pieces.

This highly original celebration of the work of Mozart (1756-91) gives rein to the inventiveness of six distinguished contemporary composers, who were each invited to collaborate with a top film-maker of their choice to produce a tribute to the maestro. These partnerships let their imaginations run riot and have produced a collection of programs which range from the hilarious, through the frankly baffling, to the deeply moving.

Eminent Dutch composer Louis Andriessen and Peter Greenaway have produced a conceit on the letter M, set in a grisly sixteenth-century anatomy theatre. It features dancer Ben Craft and jazz singer Astrid Seriese, with jazz/funk music played by the Dutch marching band De Volharding.

A stage show based upon the book by Raymond Briggs has transported a generation of children and their families into the wintery world of a boy and his magical snowman.

With music and lyrics by Howard Blake , including Walking in the Air performed by a live band, design by Ruari Murchison and lighting by Tim Mitchell, The Snowman is a tale of friendship and adventure including a visit to the North Pole meet Father Christmas and a thrilling escape from Jack Frost.

Virtuoso choreography by Robert North and direction Bill Alexander make this show a much-loved festive tradition of storytelling, spectacle and magic.

Thirty years after the original broadcast, Owen Wingrave returned to the small screen in a new version by the highly-regarded music and arts director Margaret Williams, who reveals through a vivid film vocabulary the intensity of the drama and its passionate realization in Benjamin Britten's music.

Shot entirely on location, the story is updated from Edwardian times to the 1950s, establishing a connection with World War II. Gerald Finley portrays Owen Wingrave, scion of a soldier family whose reluctance to join the family trade reflects Britten's own pacifist principles. Taunted and rejected by a hostile family, Owen confronts the ghosts of the past to rebut the charges of cowardice. With Peter Savidge, Hilton Marlton, Ann Dawson. Libretto by Myfanwy Piper.Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Westminster Cathedral Choir Choristers. Bonus Feature: The Hidden Heart (58 minutes) profiles Britten, the leading twentieth century British composer, telling the story of his life, reflecting on his music and his lifelong relationship with his partner and muse, tenor Peter Pears.

Several luminaries can claim to have invented the gramophone. Only one man made mass duplication of discs possible - Emil Berliner . As a result, a major new industry came into being.

In this video tracing the evolution of sound recording, his grandson, Oliver, tells the story of his life and his achievement. Caruso and other great performers are heard in early recordings, and contributors, including John Eliot Gardiner, Pierre Boulez, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, comment on the pros and cons of today's advanced technology.

The Munich-based Rosamunde Quartet made a sensational debut in 1992 and swiftly gained an international reputation as a chamber ensemble noted for its individual style and mastery of a broad repertoire. Unusually, the four musicans Andreas Reiner (first violin), Simon Fordham (second violin), Helmut Nicolai (viola) and Anja Lechner (cello) came together after they had individually established successful careers.

Up until his death in 1996, maestro Sergiu Celibidache was their mentor, friend and critic in this venture, and he continues to be their inspiration. The quartet emulate his single-minded perfectionism; approach music-making, as he did, from a well-founded understanding; and always remember his impatience if he thought they were just playing notes and not music.

This lively and intimate portrait accompanies the ensemble as they rehearse, travel, perform, and also catches each of the musicians off duty. They are seen playing works by both classical and modern composers in sequences which have a contemporary visual impact, and their collaboration with the Argentinean bandoneon master, Dino Saluzzi , is also featured.

The evergreen Chinese bamboo survives even the bitterest of winters. Symbolizing integrity and epitomizing elegance, it plays a part in many ancient tales. Lin Hwai-min's inspired choreography does not narrate a single bamboo story but draws on many to create an abstract and lyrical piece of dance theatre. Performed by Cloudgate Dance Theatre of Taiwan to melodies improvised by Chinese flute player Huang Sheng-kai and music by Arvo Part , the cycle of the seasons unfolds in a series of sections featuring solos, duets, trios and stunning examples of the ensemble-work in which the company excels.

The celebrated Hungarian pianist, Andras Schiff , plays the Chopin Preludes on an 1860 Pleyel Grand Piano, recorded in the beautiful, meticulously-restored concert hall of the Ancient Conservatoire in Paris, where Chopin himself frequently gave concerts.

The 24 Preludes were partly written in Majorca in the monastery of Valldemosa in the winter of 1838 and 1839, where Chopin went with writer George Sand and her children in an attempt to mend his deteriorating health. Chopin's moods during his stay in Majorca fluctuated wildly from great happiness to profound depression and these moods are reflected in the condensed poetic miniatures of the Preludes which constantly change colour, chameleon-like, from the simple and joyful to the bleak, tormented and desperate.

Impressed with how European music could have a "German sound," a "French sound," and so on, Aaron Copland returned from his years in Paris to New York City, intent on capturing the essence of the "American sound."

This documentary presents an artful blending of the life and music of one of America's great modern composers. The many milestones in Copland's long career are discussed by his biographer, Howard Pollock, while stirring images of Copland's native city are set to selections of his music as performed by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. FRSO conductor Hugh Wolff provides astute commentary. Many interviews with Copland are included, along with a historic recording of Clarinet Concerto with Benny Goodman playing and Copland conducting.

Born in England, of German parents, Frederick Delius (1862-1934) traveled throughout his life to America, Scandinavia, Germany, France and Italy. Although ranked as one of the leading English composers, he was inspired by the foreign landscapes he visited.

Discovering Delius looks at the early life and work of the young cosmopolitan composer. Several champions of Delius' music - conductor Charles Mackerras, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, violinist Tasmin Little, baritone Thomas Hampson and the Brindisi Quartet - are seen rehearsing, performing and discussing his work.

The music chosen focuses on the landmarks of Delius's creativity and reveals every aspect of his compositional style and includes extracts from the film of A Village Romeo and Juliet, featuring Thomas Hampson; A Mass of Life from the 1992 Brighton Festival; Sir Charles Mackerras and the Welsh National Opera rehearsing and performing The Song of the High Hills and movements from the Florida Suite.

Tasmin Little discusses, rehearses and performs the Concerto for Violin and Piano ; the Sonata for Cello and Piano is performed by Julian Lloyd Webber; and the Brindisi Quartet rehearses and performs Late Swallows from the String Quartet.

Pianist Peter Waters and his ensemble, the Treya Quartet , garnered widespread praise for their performance of exquisitely sensitive jazz arrangements of songs by Gabriel Faure (1845-1924). This beautifully-shot studio recording of the Quartet playing some of their arrangements also features internationally-acclaimed soprano Barbara Hendricks singing original versions. The performances are punctuated by Waters and Hendricks considering Faure's music and its compatibility with jazz.

The six Englishmen known as The King's Singers enjoy a reputation as one of the world's most sought-after a cappella vocal ensembles. This pre-eminent group has never diminished in virtuosity throughout its thirty-plus year history of sharing one of the widest repertoires imaginable with enthusiastic audiences around the globe. This programme features The King's Singers performing some of their favourite works' a mixture of songs old and new - from Byrd to The Beatles .

Madrigals by Byrd, Weelkes, Lassus, Passereau, Gesualdo and Monteverdi are all included in the excellently varied programme, as well as a traditional spiritual, the ensemble's interpretation of a Duke Ellington composition and the overture to Rossini's Barber of Seville . There are two Beatles' numbers and arrangements of Billy Joel's Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel) and Freddie Mercury's Seaside Rendezvous . The King's Singer's give a superb performance of Paul Drayton's Masterpiece, a musical satire on four hundred years of Western music in nine minutes, with sections ranging from a hgue on the name Johann Sebastian Bach' to an impressionistic rendering of 'Debussy' in fanatically over-pronounced French.
will be the 5OOth Anniversary of the birth of Thomas Tallis , the most...

Gluck's wonderful but neglected 1774 opera Iphigenie en Tauride , inspired by the Greek legend, is treated with forceful and convincing simplicity in Klaus Guth's revolutionary production stated the Zurich Opera House. The psychological drama in a tense atmosphere of fears and traumas is underline by Guth's use of huge masks and enclosed space. Conductor William Christie and his typically transparent but never cold orchestral sound perfectly match the descriptive elements in Gluck's score, while the Armenian mezzo-soprano Juliette Galstain as a fabulously good Iphigenie, the leading American opera baritone Rodney Gilfry as Oreste and the deceased South African tenor Deon van der Walt as Pylade head a superb cast.

Gluck's 1762 opera Orphee et Eurydice was groundbreaking in its day and, as this 1999 performance from the Theatre Musical de Paris shows, it still lends itself to radical treatment. The composer's rejection of traditional, flamboyant, operatic bells and whistles led to a fresh form in which the lyrics hold court. The music provides the setting and emotional color in a way that is almost physical in its intensity. Gluck's readiness to incorporate the influences of other art forms - poetry, ballet, and drama - has always made this story of love rescued from the jaws of tragedy universally appealing.

William Shakespeare's timeless tale of romance Romeo and Juliet came alive in a new way when Charles Gounod adapted it for the stage as an opera.

This unforgettable stage production features Roberto Alagna in the role of Romeo and Angela Gheorghiu in the role of his young love, Juliette, with conductor Anton Guadagno leading the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. If you missed it on the stage, don't pass up this opportunity to take one of the most memorable stage adaptations of Shakespeare home with this release that's sure to touch the romantic in everyone.

Original soundtrack, created by Marco Antonio Guimaraes , for the ballet Bach , presented by Grupo Corpo. A free and enlightened creation of the author around the work of the greatest composer of all time, Johann Sebastian Bach .

Roger Norrington conducts one of Europe's leading chamber orchestra, the Camerata Academica Salzburg, in performances of Haydn's Symphonies Nos. 82-87 , known as the Paris Symphonies.

These expressive works really allow an ensemble to show off. Commissioned by the Comte d'Ogny, one of the financial backers of a Parisian concert society called 'Concert de la Loge Olympique', and written during 1785 and 1786, the symphonies are among Haydn's most scintillating. Freed from composing exclusively for Nikolaus Esterhazy in 1779, but constrained in what he was producing for publishers, he rose to the challenge of this commission and created music that was both personal and original.

Herbert von Karajan's story is the story of the record industry itself, which he was instrumental in creating and sustaining over half a century with hundreds of spectacular and award-winning recordings.

His life and his music-making still provoke extreme reactions; in Gernot Friedel's film, made with the help of the Karajan-Centrum in Salzburg, we see the hypnotic effect he could have upon musicians and listeners alike, we hear him in the repertoire for which he was renowned, and we are taken through a life never less than eventful.

In Why Beethoven Threw the Stew , renowned cellist Steven Isserlis sets out to pass on to children a wonderful gift given to him by his own cello teacher - the chance to people his own world with the great composers by getting to know them as friends.

Witty and informative at the same time, Isserlis introduces us to six of his favourite composers: the sublime genius Bach, the quicksilver Mozart, Beethoven with his gruff humour, the shy Schumann, the prickly Brahms and that extraordinary split personality, Stravinsky. Isserlis brings the composers alive in an irresistible manner that can't fail to catch the attention of any child whose ear has been caught by any of the music described, or anyone entering the world of classical music for the first time.

The lively black and white line illustrations provide a perfect accompaniment to the text, and make this book attractive and accessible for children to enjoy on their own or share with an adult.

He is often hailed as the greatest composer alive, and John Adams has his finger on the cultural and political pulse of America like few others: fearless in his confrontation of hot topics like imperialism and terrorism within his own works such as Nixon in China and the still-controversial Death of Klinghofer Alice Goodman and Peter Sellars. Through them and the operas themselves, in extensive performance extracts by Willard White. Dawn Upshaw and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, we see a fresh someone who has revitalised both opera and American music for a new age.

Profile of dancer-choreographer Karole Armitage , much of it in her own words. The program begins with a discussion of her evening-length work The predators' ball: hucksters of the soul , which she presented in several versions between 1994 and 1996.

Looking back upon her career, Armitage describes her beginnings as a ballet dancer, and her discovery of the work of Merce Cunningham, whose company she joined. She discusses her own choreography and its aims, her establishment of her own company in the 1980s, her move to France, and her appointment to the directorship of Maggio Danza in Florence, and compares audience and critical reactions to her innovations in the U.S. and Europe. Additional insights are offered by her friend Joan Juliet Buck; dance historian Sally Sommer; Armitage's husband, the painter David Salle; and fashion designer Christian Lacroix.

Film 1: The Matchstick Man is an atmospheric profile affording a perceptive and illuminating glimpse into Gyorgy Kurtag's world. A very private man who usually shies away from discussing himself and his work, Kurtag communicates his all-consuming passion for music and deep involvement in the world of sound to director Judit Kele. He is seen teaching and working with musicians - including his wife Marta, Adrienne Csengery or Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Other contributors to the program include the pianist Zoltan Kocsis , composers Gyorgy Ligeti, Andras Szollosy, Laszlo Vidovsky and Zoltan Jeney , as well as students of Kurtag.

Film 2: The Seventh Door draws a portrait of composer Peter Eotvos , a prominent champion and exponent of modern music. Using new footage, archival films and photos, Judit Kele provides an imaginative insight into the world of this tireless musician and complex personality whose desire is to "make what is heard visible". This documentary also includes interviews with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen and shows precious footage of Peter Eotvos rehearsing his opera Three Sisters .

Since 1988 London Master Classes has been presenting some of the world's most distinguished performers as master teachers offering intensive classical music master classes for vocal, violin, cello, piano and conducting.

Working with advanced classical music students and young professionals before audiences in major London venues, the London Master Classes provide a rare opportunity for young artists to meet and benefit from working with the great performers of our time.

Conductor Benjamin Zander shares his experience on the worldwide concert platform with students from St. Cyprian's Church.

Since 1988 London Master Classes has been presenting some of the world's most distinguished performers as master teachers offering intensive classical music master classes for vocal, violin, cello, piano and conducting.

Working with advanced classical music students and young professionals before audiences in major London venues, the London Master Classes provide a rare opportunity for young artists to meet and benefit from working with the great performers of our time.

A master class following one of Britain's leading pianists. Norma Fisher has international success on the concert and chamber music platform, and now shares her experiences and talent with her students.

Since 1988 London Master Classes has been presenting some of the world's most distinguished performers as master teachers offering intensive classical music master classes for vocal, violin, cello, piano and conducting.

Working with advanced classical music students and young professionals before audiences in major London venues, the London Master Classes provide a rare opportunity for young artists to meet and benefit from working with the great performers of our time.

This master class featuring Ralph Kirshbaum shows the world-renowned cellist at work, passing on his expertise to the next generation.

Since 1988 London Master Classes has been presenting some of the world's most distinguished performers as master teachers offering intensive classical music master classes for vocal, violin, cello, piano and conducting.

Working with advanced classical music students and young professionals before audiences in major London venues, the London Master Classes provide a rare opportunity for young artists to meet and benefit from working with the great performers of our time.

The great American Baritone, Sherrill Milnes shares his knowledge of singing in opera houses and music centers of the world encompassing all areas of vocal repertoires.

Just two years before she died, Margot Fonteyn finally agreed to tell the full story of her life for this exclusive television biography. It was made at her home in Panama and is the only personal account of her life and career that exists on film. It includes archive footage of many of her great roles and extensive newsreel coverage of key events in her life.

Just two years before she died, Margot Fonteyn finally agreed to tell the full story of her life for this exclusive television biography. It was made at her home in Panama and is the only personal account of her life and career that exists on film. It includes archive footage of many of her great roles and extensive newsreel coverage of key events in her life.

Just two years before she died, Margot Fonteyn finally agreed to tell the full story of her life for this exclusive television biography. It was made at her home in Panama and is the only personal account of her life and career that exists on film. It includes archive footage of many of her great roles and extensive newsreel coverage of key events in her life.

Zubin Mehta is undoubtedly one of the great conductors of our time, equally at home in opera houses and on the concert platform. This program records a relaxed interview he gave at his home in Los Angeles, looking back over his career and reflecting on what makes his "mystical profession" such a unique phenomenon.

Mehta's great love of music and his charismatic personality inform this vibrant, music-filled program, which shows him in rehearsal and in performance.

A star-studded gala from the royal Albert Hall in London, featuring some of the greatest names from the world's of opera, ballet, musicals and flamenco.

Featuring Tito Beltran, June Anderson, Michael Ball, Maria Friesman, Anastasia Volvchkova, Paco Pena and Montse Cortes performing a program of works that includes arias from Turandot, Hamlet, La Traviata and Rigoletto , hits from The Phantom of the Opera, Follies and showboat plus excerpts from Don Quixote and some stirring flamenco pieces.

James Morrison is the hottest jazz musician from Australia to emerge onto the international scene. A superbly talented multi-instrumentalist, he has no peers on jazz trumpet, trombone or euphonium and his U.S. debut, at the Village Vanguard in New York, prompted veteran jazz writer Leonard Feather to rate him as 'a sure bet for jazz superstardom'.

This films into Morrison's dynamic energy and boundless creativity and features him in concert in Australia, with his mentor Don Burrows; at the Montreux Jazz Festival; in a creative improvisation session with the Australian artist Ken Done. Done develops a canvas in response to Morrison's performance and Morrison, in turn, responds to the painter at work.

The highlight of the program is footage of Morrison rehearsing and performing with the World Superband, in New York.

n 18th century Naples, Don Alfonso wagers that the two girls, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, are no more trustworthy in matters of love than any other women. The girls sing of their love, before Don Alfonso tells them that their lovers are to be called away to the war. Despina, bribed by Don Alfonso, urges the girls to find other lovers, but they declare their constancy. Guglielmo and Ferrando return, disguised as Albanians, but the girls remain firm. They agree to Despina's suggestion of harmless flirtation, each unwittingly choosing the other's partner. The success of the two Albanians, in spite of Fiordiligi's more prolonged resistance, leads to a wedding. The men now appear as themselves and pretend shock and horror at what is afoot, before revealing their plot. All ends happily, as Don Alfonso urges the power of reason in these circumstances.

This production by the Zurich Opera House had it premiere in Febuary 2000. The renowned soprano Cecilia Bartoli made her debut here as Fiordiligi, after having sung the two other Cosi roles, Despina and Dorabella, previously.

The overwhelming success of the Prague performance of Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) in December 1786, led to the commissioning of a new opera. Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte turned to the Don Juan theme, making this promising material the basis for their new opera. In the spring of 1787 Mozart began to compose it in Vienna, and was able to complete it in Prague by the autumn of the same year. Don Giovanni received its first performance, under the composer's personal direction, on 20 October 1787 at Prague's Count Nostitz National Theatre.

This production of Don Giovanni at the Zurich Opera House was staged by the highly creative team of conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, director Jurgen Flimm and set-designer Erich Wonder. Rodney Gilfry and Cecilia Bartoli lead a first-class group of singers.

Russia's whole history has been marked by cycles of bloodshed and especially by the torturing and killing of its own people. There is a pattern of self-destruction that the country does not seem to be able to escape and Russian music endlessly explores the tragic repetitions of its history. Program Four investigates, musically and visually, the legacy of tyranny in Russia.

Russia is at once devoutly Christian and deeply pagan. Both faith and magic were stuffed into the deep-freeze by the Soviets. What has emerged since the thaw is inspiring and alarming in equal measure. Program Two shows how the obsession with things spiritual is in all Russian Music

Russians have always espoused village life. Over the centuries, the traditions of folk culture have been assertion of the Russian identity and the melodies of the country side can be found everywhere in Russian classical music. The first program evokes Russia's rural heart and searches for the origins of the Russian folk-song that is the core of all her music.

Throughout Russian history there has been a love/hate relationship with her neighbors, oscillating between fear and loathing, envy and imitation. This final program in the series travels from the edge of the one-time empire to the heart of Russia and reveal that the cultural and musical impact of these conflicts has been vast, colorful and searing.

This program looks at one of the archetypal forms of Russian culture, the fairy-tale. An essential part of Russian childhood, these stories with their princesses, heroes and magical characters are also the inspiration of many of the great Russian ballets, operas, symphonic poems and piano works.

The Austrian trombonist, pianist, composer and conductor has established his reputation on the international scene as an innovator who seeks to break down the boundaries between jazz and modern classical forms. Muthspiel collaborated with lyricist Bernd Hagg on this project, bringing together a special line-up of versatile instrumentalists who embrace the duality of improvisation and the interpretation of composed contemporary music. He has added to this the contrasting voices of Gail Anderson, an Afkican American singer steeped in jazz, rhythm and blues and soul, and two artists who find their natural home on the operatic and concert stage: Cornelia Horak (soprano) and Anna Clare Hauf (alto).

The mix of styles creates a dialogue in which the sensuality and improvisational joy of jazz inflect the banter around pre-scored sounds. Time and again, the cool, atonal and compositional elements get sucked up in whirls of excitement, such as the guitar solos by trombonist Christian Muthspiel's brother, Wolfgang.

The documentary by Felix Breisach shows the conductor from his private side. He touchingly talks about his fears, aging, his relationship with his wife Alice. His brother Philipp Harnoncourt tells of their childhood and youth, his son Franz describes how he sees his father. In addition, there is the instrumental ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien, founded by Harnoncourt, director's theater and Harnoncourt's love of music.

Anne Sofie von Otter is widely considered to be the greatest and most versatile mezzo-soprano of her generation. Filmed in Sweden, London, Paris, and Salzburg, this profile combines interviews with performance extracts and archive material, and accompanies Anne Sofie to her idyllic country home for a weekend off.

A framework is provided by one of her career highlights, her performance as Octavian in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier for Carlos Kleiber. There is footage of her on the operatic stage, in rehearsal, working with her voice coach, and rehearsing lieder.

La Belle Helene, Jacques Offenbach's 1864 three-act opera bouffe, unfolds just prior to the Trojan War. Offenbach opens with the goddess Venus promising to procure Helen's love for Paris, through Calchas, the High Priest of Jupiter. He subsequently weaves the tale of Paris' seduction of Helen and the virulent chagrin of her husband, Menelaus.

The production of Offenbach's opera by The Theatre Musicale de Paris, Chatelet features a libretto co-written and adapted by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. Dame Felicity Lott portrays Helen, Yann Beuron is Paris, Michel Senechal is Menelaus, and Francois Le Roux plays Calchas. Les Musiciens du Louvre and the Chorus of the Musiciens du Louvre provide musical accompaniment.

The Zurich Opera is known for staging works that star singers have always wanted to sing and Paisiello's Nina was evidently a role coveted by Cecilia Bartoli, one of today's most sought-after performers. This opera buffa (with sung and spoken text) has to be the only one where the heroine is mad from the start. It requires a singer of immense vocal and dramatic talent to pull off such a role and Bartoli is phenomenal in this Cesare Lievi production. Laszlo Polgar, Jonas Kaufmann, Juliette Galstian and Angelo Veccia provide an excellent foil for her tour de force. Adam Fischer conducts.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote of this recital pianist Helene Grimaud at the Kammer Musiksaal of the Berlin Philarmonie, "She doesn't only play the piano - she feels it and she lives it. Every single note proves her devotion to perfection, her unconventional style captivates everyone in the audience."

Arguably one of the very top pianists of her generation, her concert career took off in 1987 when she was in her early twenties and she now performs with major orchestras around the world as well as being in demand for recital appearances. The spontaneity of her playing is breathtaking. Not to be afraid of taking risks and always to play as though it is the first time is Helene Grimaud's album.

This program showcases the breathtaking beauty and exquisite skill of the dancers of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia , performing live in France. They dance Reamker , Cambodia's version of India's Ramayana, which tells how Prince Rama's beautiful wife Sita is abducted by Ravana, the demon-king of Sri Lanka; the Moni Mekhala, describing the union between the goddess Keo Moni and the giant Ream Eyso; and the snake dance, Makara. The stories told on stage are explained in captions punctuating the scenes.

Throughout his adult life, composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856) struggled against a fear of mental disintegration. His Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61 was written in 1845 while he was recovering from a breakdown and contains an illustration of how his creative daemons, the heroic, high-spirited Florestan, and the brooding, poetic Eusebius, came into conflict in his music, with its combination of power and intimate lyricism. Focusing on the Second Symphony, this film uses a dynamic interaction between rehearsal footage and dramatized sequences to give a penetrating insight into the composer's complex and fractured genius.

The Schumann Encounter finds Sir Roger Norrington in Salzburg to rehearse and perform the Symphony No. 2 with the Camerata Academica, one of Europe's leading chamber orchestras. Snatching some rest before the evening's concert with the Camerata Academica, he is aware of an argument in progress in the adjoining hotel room. He falls asleep only to awake in another reality, transformed into Master Raro the mediator between Florestan and Eusebius, both played by Simon Callow (Amadeus, Shakespeare in Love) who are at odds over the composition of the Second Symphony.

Since its 1995 premier, Songs of the Wanderers , has gripped the imaginations of audience world-wide. It is the signature of the Lin Hwai-min's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Asia's leading contemporary dance company, and is possessed of a powerful meditative beauty.

Performed to Georgian folk songs, the choreography blends East and West dance styles and demands absolute focus and control from the dancers who, at times, appear to be have been transformed from human beings into body sculptures. The evocation of a quest for spiritual enlightenment through the experience and suffering is finely-wrought in imagery both abstract and literal. The passing of time sees to transcend normal boundaries. A monk-like figure stands motionless throughout, a steady stream of rice grains falling on his shaven head: an immovable living hour-glass. It is just one of the many ways in which Lin Hwai-min uses three tons of golden rice to striking effect. At first it is a river snaking in a neat heal across the stage, then it is a desert through which the pilgrims toil, later it falls as a dazzling rain as the dancers whirl in exultation. Finally, it is the task of one man to painstakingly rake the rice into a perpetual spiral.

The British director David Pountney lets the entertaining tale unfold accompanied by the many spectacular effects for which he has become internationally famous. Monumental props are embellished with skilled, clean-cut directing work, seasoned with a healthy portion of black humour. In the final scene the audience sees dramatic gallows dangling with numerous corpses, all turning in time to the music of a waltz.

Strauss himself loved this work. It was the last of his stage works for which he conducted the premiere performance. He described it as "generally speaking a much more cheerful work than Der Zigeunerbaron."

Strauss's felicitous orchestration, languorous melodies, and endless inventiveness ensure over 2 hours of pleasure for all who invest in this unique piece of theatre.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the world's most dynamic ensembles, with a reputation for maintaining the highest standards of traditional symphonic music while standing at the forefront of new repertories.

This concert was recorded live from Cologne during the Music Triennale and features the great Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting a program which opens with the European premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara's Symphony No. 8, "The Journey" and is followed by Richard Strauss' Symphonia domestica, Op. 53 .

This recital with the Lindsay String Quartet was recorded live at the Wigmore Hall, London and includes Haydn's Quartet, "The RIder", Tippett's Quartet No. 3 (premiered at Wigmre Hall on October 19, 1946) and Elgar's Quartet in E Minor, Op. 83 (premiered at Wigmore Hall)

The Lindsaus have a special relationship with the music Sir Michael Tippett and have recorded all his string quartets. They gave the world premiere of the Fourth in 1979, and commissioned and premiered the Fifth in Sheffield in May 1992.

The quartet plays on a remarkable set of instruments: Peter Cropper on a Stradivarius from the Golden Period and Robin Ireland on a Mori Costa viola c. 1810, while Ronald Birks and Bernard-Gregor Smith are fortunate to be loaned the Campo Selice Stradivarius of 1694 and a Ruggieri cello of the same year.

In this exclusive profile, Joan Sutherland - La Stupenda - looks back on her remarkable forty-two year career as one of the world's greatest singers. The programme includes film of her final performances in Les Huguenots and Die Fledermaus , a wealth of archive performance extracts and newsreel footage. There are interviews with Joan Sutherland and her husband, the director and conductor Richard Bonynge, and contributions from friends and colleagues, including Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Kiri Te Kanawa, and her biographer, Norma Major.

Bejart's magical staging transforms the piece into an enchanting autobiography and a loving homage to the choreographer's mother and to his creative hero, Marius Petipa. The first part of the performance is punctuated by Bejart, on a huge video screen, letting something of his childhood. Summing up his approach to creating this ballet, Bejart replied, "You live a life and you dream a life. When you come to write your own life you tell a lie to build the truth."

The showman of modern dance, Maurice Bejart's work has been provocative, influential and popular in equal measure. His choreography has always been physically thrilling, setting up an immediate emotional combustion between audience and performer, and he attracted huge new audiences for dance with the Ballet of the Twentieth Century productions he mounted in sports, stadia, public squares and circus tents.

Winner of a Grammy Award for the album Talking Timbuktu, on which he played with Ry Cooder and other American luminaries, the legendary African singer and guitarist now invests much of his time, energy and resources in improving agricultural and social conditions in Mali. Film-maker Marc Huraux visited Ali there. Music is an integral part of Ali's life and therefore an integral part of this encounter. Deep, mysterious and utterly compelling, his playing lights up a striking documentary.

Dame Felicity Lott has always had a special love for the song repertoire. As well as expertise in the songs of Strauss, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms she is also a master of French Melodies.

This concert, therefore, is especially suited to her talents. Sir Thomas Allen is, perhaps, best known as a singer of great Mozart roles. He is a star of all the great Opera houses: La Scala, Vienna and the Metropolitan to name but a few. He brings his unique dramatic talent and flair to these songs.

Sir Thomas is a much-acclaimed recitalist worldwide and his warm voice, capable of immense tenderness, is shown to its full advantage in this recital.

The remarkable British tenor, Ian Bostridge , is one of the world's most sought-after Lieder singers. Pianist Roger Vignoles is his accompanist for this recital of Lieder by Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf . The strength of feeling and individuality of voice and presence that Bostridge brings to composers settings of poetry by von Collin, Goethe, von Bruchmann and Morike, demonstrates why, in Germany, he is hailed as a true German singer. His command of the nuances of the texts is masterful.

This live performance from the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris is intercut with informal backstage interviews in which Bostridge and Vignoles introduce their choice of music. Their lively and informative comments are a real bonus, fostering an appreciation and understanding of the repertoire and giving an insight into the art of the recitalist.

Thomas Hampson is regarded in some circles as a successor to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau for his mastery of a wide repertory to which he is drawn by an intellectual curiosity of astonishing breadth. Equally at home on the opera stage and the recital platform, Hampson is known for his passion for song and for the research he undertakes on account of this.

In this recital, accompanied by pianist Wolfram Rieger, he sings ongs by Gustav Mahler , most of them settings from the immensely popular collection of folk texts titled Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Magic Horn) . His choice is impressively wide, from the mournful Das irdische Leben (Earthly Life) to the witty Lob des hohen Verstandes (In Praise of Higher Understanding) .

Hampson's performance, recorded live from te Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, is inter-cut with informal back-stage interviews in which he introduces the works by Mahler. He gives a fascinating insight into the music and is a compelling and cogent advocate of the power of song.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Grace Bumbry is universally acclaimed as one of the great musicians of our time. Her vocal versatility and dramatic instincts have made her an unparalleled singing actress, not only in opera, but in recital as well. Ms. Bumbry's talent was spotted by the legendary Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), one of operas most-loved sopranos, famed for the radiance and warmth of her full-bodies voice. Bumbry was still in her teens when Lehmann took responsibility for her studies and helped launch her professional career. Her stunning operatic debut as Amneris in Paris in 1960 assured international fame.

Grace Bumbry's programme for this recital is a homage to Lotte Lehmann. It includes songs which she knows Lehmann would have like to hear her sing; pieces she worked on with her; particular favourites of her mentor; on ones by the composers she love best - Schumann, Schubert and Berlioz . Pianist Helmut Deutsch is her accompanist.

Peter Konwitschny's Tristan und Isolde proves to be refreshingly controversial in its interpretation of the piece. In his hand's the towering Richard Wagner opera becomes an optimistic work about two people who succeed in finding love.